The Squishy Middle A Life Meets Work Manifesto

The Squishy Middle
   A Life Meets Work Manifesto

           1-888-462-LMW1

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Part I
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been busy. Really busy… networking,
speaking and listening to people on all sides of the work/life issue:
top female executives; middle managers; women in construction,
technology, manufacturing; advocates for women and girls; executive
directors of social service agencies; vice-presidents of diversity and HR,
heads of media organizations; and government administrators.

And I’m convinced now, more than ever, of the real workforce challenge
facing our nation.

We need to move beyond lip-service, work/life awards, and the business
case for flex and get to the real work of making it a reality in business
today. The solution lies in addressing the lack of support by middle
managers.

We need to firm up the squishy middle. Middle management attitudes are
preventing flexible work from becoming a reality for most Americans.

Listen to employees and top executives of a number of the Working
Mother Top 100 companies, as I have, and they’ll tell you that often the
policy exists on paper and flex is available to some. But, the opportunity
for flexible work and work/life balance in the day-to-day lives of their
employees is no different than for employees of non-flex friendly
companies.

Listen to human resource managers of “best workplace” companies
and they’ll tell you that they lack the know-how to get flex policies to be
a living, breathing part of their company’s culture. They face resistance
from executives and middle managers, as well as from employees who
are too afraid to ask for the flex they need.

Talk with companies who boast flexible work policies but don’t want
their employees to know about, or take advantage of, them. They
believe policy is good enough and fear the repercussions if all of their
employees requested flexible work.

Look at the resources we devote to training under-privileged, low income
individuals to get job training and join the workforce. Now look at how
many of them remain low-wage earners throughout their careers. They

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do not have access to the professional development, mentoring and
structural supports (think after-school care, transportation) to enable
them to compete. Joining the job ranks isn’t enough.

People ask me all the time, what is it going to take to get this to change.
I believe the answer lies in both external, labor market realities and an
internal shift in management attitudes. It’s not a matter of building
the business case to show companies the profitability, productivity and
efficiency gains they’ll achieve by adopting these practices. It will require
a shift in the mindset of management, especially middle management,
to see their employees as an integral part of their company’s success-- as
much as their capital investments, product innovation, or stock price.

This enlightenment will either evolve willingly as it has in some companies
or it will come because of the fundamental economic and labor shift
taking place in our country today.

The future of the workforce is in independent contractors who will work
for themselves, moving fluidly from job to job. Companies will hire the
services they need, when they need them.

Gone will be the paternalist control of employees in exchange for health
benefits and advancement opportunities. The levers management
currently uses to motivate workers will be removed and replaced by the
exchange of money for services rendered and results achieved.

This future is evolving now—as our country shifts from a manufacturing
to knowledge/service based culture—as the sheer number of skilled
workers diminishes. Do you question this logic? Ask a recruiter in your
company about open job orders. Even in this recession, good talent is
hard to find.

Kyra Cavanaugh
President, Life Meets Work

March 17, 2010

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Part II
How do we address our collective malaise when it comes to workplace
flexibility? How do we firm up the squishy middle? We need to move
beyond the research, beyond business case—promises of greater profits
are clearly not enough.

1. Stop paying lip service to the availability of flexible work. Awards
   are no guarantee of a flex-friendly reality. Employee surveys as a part
   of the award process are a step in the right direction, but awards in
   general can be a band-aid for the greater challenges facing these
   organizations. And while, we’re at it, stop counting the opportunity
   for occasional flex in the case of a snow-storm, or sick child as
   equivalent to a flex-friendly culture.
2. Government must play a role in creating incentives for businesses
   to move in this direction, and in changing labor laws and tax code to
   accommodate the new, independent worker. This will accelerate the
   rate of adoption of structural supports that benefit both companies
   and their employees.
    In our 2008 study, Work/Life issues in America, over 62% of
    employers indicated they’d like to see government move in this
    direction.
3. Middle managers need incentives to support flex policies. Build
   them into their compensation plans.
4. Initiate corporate training programs so middle managers can
   express, work through and develop solutions for overcoming their
   resistance.
5. Establish informal networks of work/life leads throughout
   every organization, by location or business practice, to actively
   communicate the company’s vision for work/life as part of its living,
   breathing culture.
6. CEOs must do more than just subscribe to work/life as a vision,
   but must communicate the strategic necessity to their direct reports
   and hold them accountable to quarterly goals and again, tie
   compensation to the achievement of these goals.

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7. Management must set the tone and model positive work/life
   practices. Think meet-less workdays, email-free vacations, and
   setting realistic deadlines to avoid heroics that become part of the
   culture “just because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
8. Educate managers about why flex CAN BE available for every
   employee by expanding their definition of flex to include best
   practices for hourly workers as highlighted in the recent Corporate
   Voices for Working Families study and implementation guides.
9. Tie flex to HR, talent development and diversity initiatives.
   Help HR managers get comfortable with flex as a cultural, strategic
   initiative that enables them to accomplish their talent development
   and inclusion goals, not just as a tactical alternative to employee
   recognition programs.
10. Stress performance as the primary responsibility of every employee
    and a condition for employment, and build both IT and performance
    management systems to monitor and communicate performance. When
    performance is the driving factor for success, management can build a
    culture based on trust—a culture where rules don’t restrict innovation
    or engagement and where flexible work cultures can thrive.

Why is this so critical?
Consider the most recent Catalyst report Pipeline’s Broken Promise.
Researchers found that the pipeline of professional women poised to fill
the ranks of corporate boards and executive management (the pipeline
corporate America thought it was developing these last 15 years) is
woefully lacking.

Add to it that, for the first time, American men are now experiencing
more work/life stress than women.

In order to build a pipeline of professional men and women of all races
and socioeconomic backgrounds, we need to build structural supports
that both acknowledge the needs of our businesses and the needs of
our workers.

The prosperity of our nation depends on it.

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About the Author
Kyra Cavanaugh is the founder of Life
Meets Work, a workforce consultancy
that helps companies drive results through
successful workplace flexibility and results-
oriented management.

Her bottom-line orientation guides the
work she does with business owners;
human resource, diversity and work/life
professionals; and the Women’s Bureau,
U.S Department of Labor.

Cavanaugh has been featured on WorkingMother.com and in Women’s
Health magazine. A top rated speaker, she also leads best practice
roundtables with Fortune 500 companies and other flex-focused
organizations.

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                                         310 Busse Hwy. #310     info@lifemeetswork.com
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